


Interrupted Lunches

by Bugabi072



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/F, F/M, First fanfic ever, I do not own Miraculous Ladybug, M/M, No Smut, S3 spoilers, Third Person POV, i don't know how to tag, i hope a03 doesn't mess up my formatting, i'll try for other parts of lovesquare, mostly adrienette, s3 continuation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:40:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25139377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bugabi072/pseuds/Bugabi072
Summary: Marinette sees Adrien as normal (therefore getting rid of her stutter), Adrien sees a new side of Marinette, and they end up dating. Only, they didn't have a reveal. Akuma attacks make for many interrupted lunches. Rated T just in case.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe
Comments: 20
Kudos: 42





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hiii! This is my first fanfiction ever, so it might not be that great... I really hope A03 doesn't mess up my formatting...Enjoy!

Marinette crashed into the classroom and into her seat just before the bell.  
“You okay, girl? You look like you lost a fight with your pillow. Again.”, Alya whispered. She was right. Marinette’s dark circles looked like bruises, and she moved groggily while searching through her bag. As she had for almost a week.  
“I’m fine, Alya. Just tired” Marinette whispered back, sitting down. She lied. She was not fine. In the week since Queen Wasp, also when she was made Guardian of the Miraculous, Marinette hadn’t had a good night’s sleep. Her stress, nightmares, and overthinking made sure of that. So had the meeting the night before with Chat Noir. They had discussed what to do with the other miraculous holders, how Ladybug being the Guardian would work, and they decided to start doing patrols. She didn’t get back home until three in the morning, and she woke up at 7:30 for school. So, that’s how she ended up sleeping in class.  
“Miss Dupain-Cheng, please pay attention to the lesson. If you’re that tired, I can write you a nurse’s note.” Ms. Bustier’s voice bounced around Marinette’s head as she lifted her head off the desk. She didn’t mean to fall asleep, the thinking just made her extra tired. She grabbed her pencil and forced herself to pay attention.  
After what seemed like hours of math, Ms. Bustier finally put down her chalk and changed the subject. Apparently, they were starting a project. The students got into their assigned groups of four, and Marinette found herself with Alya, Nino, and Adrien (who, she noticed, looked as tired as she felt. Strange.)  
“Okay, now choose your topic. You can choose any topic, as long as it’s school appropriate”, Ms. Bustier instructed. Alya and Nino glanced at each other, smiling, as if they could converse telepathically. The silence dissolved into discussion of topics between groups. Alya started the brainstorming for their group, suggesting Ladybug and Chat Noir.  
“Good idea, but I feel like everyone else is gonna do something like that. So maybe we try… something about hobbies?” Nino suggested.  
“Like, um, designing? Or blogging? Or Dj-ing? Or…”, Marinette trailed off. She didn’t actually know any of Adrien’s hobbies. She shrugged.  
“Or maybe punning? I know a mew, but they’re purrty clawful. A pawsome cat pun always has a place in my heart, though! Mewbe we should do our project on those!” Adrien piped up, grinning. Marinette stared at him like he was insane, mouth agape. Nino smiled at their reactions, already having suffered through his best friend’s affinity for puns.  
“Oh, I forgot, you guys don’t hang around us enough to hear him pun!” Nino joked, elbowing the blond.  
“Three in a row though? Seriously, Adrien, that’s clawful!” Alya laughed, obviously liking Adrien’s idea, and ignoring his comment about “not hanging around enough”. Marinette turned to stare at Alya like she was a crazy person. Then she groaned and dropped her head to the table. And bounced it a few times, mumbling something about how she constantly has to deal with cat puns. Then she sat straight up, her eyes flying to Adrien, blushing furiously.  
“S-Sorry! I pun like cats! I mean, like cat puns! I just expected didn’t- No, didn’t expect you to like them! Not that it’s bad, but-” Alya elbowed her, bringing her out of her word-vomit-frenzy. She trained her eyes on her desk, thinking. _Adrien likes puns? But, he’s so… not silly! He’s kind and selfless, not goofy!_ Marinette slowly came to grips with this realization, that Adrien wasn’t as perfect as he showed everyone.  
Apparently it took awhile, because after a few minutes of her friends debating over topics, Alya teases, “Hey Adrien, I think you broke Mari. She’s stared at that spot for like, five minutes!”  
The sound of her name snaps Marinette out of her stupor, just in time to see Adrien cross his arms and stick his tongue out at Alya. Her eyes widen and she finally admits it: Adrien is normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked this chapter, comment so I know to continue! I'm aiming for at least 10 chapters, even if they're short like this one. I'll try to update every Thursday. Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 is done! It's longer than Chapter 1, and I hope just as liked? Enjoy!

_Adrien is normal. Adrien is normal. Adrien is normal._ The thought echoed around Marinette’s head until Alya calling her name ( _again_ ) brought her out of her thoughts. She smiled and nodded throughout the conversation that decided their project topic (which ended up as puns), desperate to go home during lunch break before her friends hooked her into anything. As a result, as soon as the bell rang, she bolted out of the classroom. Nino looked at Alya, who shrugged.  
Marinette grabbed a few pastries and a sandwich as she went upstairs to her room. She closed the trapdoor carefully, and then a whole bunch of tiny, flying animals floated out of their hiding spaces, telling Marinette today’s kwami drama and how they were happy to see her. She set her plate at her desk, where she then sat, and the little gods went back to whatever they were doing when Marinette came in.  
“I still think letting them out of the Miracle Box was a great idea, Marinette!” Tikki said as she helped herself to a cookie from the plate.  
“Yeah?”  
“Absolutely! They seem so happy to stretch their legs and interact after so many decades.”  
“Hey Tikki, do you think I’ve been a good friend to Adrien?” Marinette asked. Tikki thought for a second, then nodded.  
“You helped him ask Kagami to the ice rink! You made him a scarf, but let him think it was from his father, so he’d be happy! You’ve been a great friend to him. Why?” Tikki answered, waving her arms for emphasis.  
“I feel like I was so nervous around him that I didn’t bother getting to know him. I didn’t know he liked puns! I put him on a pedestal so high, it _surprised_ me when I realized he was normal! I feel like an awful friend. Tikki, how do I fix this?” Marinette looked like she was on the verge of tears.  
Tikki thought for a moment more, then replied, “You get to know him. Maybe now you know he’s more like you, you can talk to him easier. Talk to him during lunch, find some activities you can invite all of your friends to! Maybe you can try to do a picnic again, or maybe you could all go to a movie, and you guys could talk! There’s so many ways to spend enough time with someone that you can get to know each other.”  
Marinette thought for a second, spinning her friend’s words around in her head. Then she started to smile, thanking the red kwami, and finishing her food. As soon as she was done, she bid the other kwamis goodbye, told them to stay quiet, and ran back to school.

Alya was showing Nino and Adrien something on her phone when Marinette walked back in the classroom. Adrien was the first to notice her walk in.  
“Hi, Marinette!”  
“Hi, Adrien”  
Marinette sat next to Alya, who raised her eyebrows in a way that meant she was going to be pestered on _why did you ditch us during lunchtime and why were you so distracted during class and how did you just talk to Adrien without dying?_. She shrugged her bag off and found her notebook without acknowledging her friend’s expression.  
“Girl, you’re early for once! What’s wrong?” Alya asked jokingly.  
Marinette rolled her eyes. “I got out of the house early enough today”, she replied. “So, what were you guys talking about before I got here?”  
“Alya was showing us some footage of the beginning of the Miracle Queen battle. I still think it’s weird that there haven’t been any attacks since then”, Nino supplied. Adrien and Marinette nodded in agreement. She and Chat Noir had actually talked about that the night before too, and both agreed that it was weird, but gave them time to make a few plans and get used to their new arrangement.  
The bell rang, and Ms. Mendeleiev strolled into the room with a GIANT stack of papers. She looked downright giddy as she set them on the edge of her desk and asked each student to pick up a packet. It was almost as if she _enjoyed_ making her students have a ton of homework, even if she had to flip through the centimeter-thick packets to grade them.  
“As you all know, midterms are coming up in two weeks, so I made a study guide to help you during the exams. We will spend time on five pages a day, and then the next two pages are homework. Five, then two, and so on. Today, we are going to be reviewing some Astronomy. Please write your name, date, and class in the corner, and pay attention to the board.” Ms. Mendeleiev smiled, and all you could hear were the collective groans from the students as they looked at the first page.

“Bye guys! See you tomorrow!” Marinette waved goodbye to Alya, Nino, and Adrien, walking in the direction of her parents’ bakery. School had just ended after what seemed like hours of looking at constellations, charts of color-to-heat in stars, and overall BLEH. Then an hour of PE, and they finally got to go home. Though, the day wasn’t over for Marinette yet… She had first patrol after dinner. She was supposed to swing around the city, looking for akumas and helping control petty crime. Then, she was going to sit on top of the Eiffel Tower, watching the news on her yo-yo for at least 30 mins. _That_ was when she could go home, do some homework, and get some much needed sleep.  
She ate dinner with her parents, snuck a platter of various things up to her room for the hungry little gods residing there, and that was when she heard it: a thump on her balcony. Then a few knocks on the trapdoor above her bed. She shooed the eating kwamis into hiding, knowing exactly who it was (I mean, who else in the world is able to jump on her second-story balcony?), even before she crawled onto her bed and peered into a set of teary, emerald green eyes through the glass.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate reading cliffhangers, but this one was a little fun to write. Plus its good for the beginning of Chapter 3! If you liked this chapter, please comment or leave kudos so I know to continue! Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, a new chapter! This one is (mostly) in Chat's point of view. Enjoy!

Chat Noir didn’t know where else to go. 

He had been stopping by Marinette’s house almost every night since Miracle Queen. The first night was the night after Miracle Queen, because he noticed she hadn’t been in the group of hypnotised Miraculous holders, even though she was Multimouse. He had wanted to see if she had even been stung, or maybe it took longer for her to get there?

The second night was the Monday after Miracle Queen, because he noticed she was more tired-looking than usual, and he had worried for his friend. He also knew that he couldn’t make sure she was okay as Adrien, because for some reason she had a hard time talking around him. So he stopped by again.

Those two nights opened his eyes to how awesome Marinette really was. She relaxed around him, and he saw the side of her that she showed to Alya and Nino, the side that he knew he could trust with anything. He had only stopped by five times, but he had found a great friend in Marinette. 

That’s why he ended up transforming and vaulting to Marinette’s house.

He landed on her balcony and tapped on her glass trapdoor. He couldn’t stop the tears from falling before she came up, hugged him, and told him it was going to be okay. He buried his face in her neck, breathing in her scent of strawberries and vanilla. It calmed him down enough that after a few minutes, he was able to explain what got him so upset.

“My father saw a 95% A in Calculus on my progress report, and he threatened to pull me out of public school! Like, the only place that I have ever enjoyed myself, he wants to take away from me. And he wants to give me EVEN MORE extracurricular activities to take up the time I spend with my friends. If I don’t get my grades up in three weeks. He insulted my friends, saying that ‘if they were to be a bad influence on my grades, I would not see them anymore.’ That’s not right! Like, he’s been awful my whole life, and when I’m FIVE PERCENT less than perfect, he threatens to take away what I worked for YEARS to earn when normal people don’t have to. ‘You’re not normal, you’re my son’ I want to be normal! I didn’t ask to be the son of...“, Chat trailed off, realizing he was about to give away his identity. Marinette seemed to realize that he almost gave away his identity too, he could tell by the way her eyes were wide when she pulled away from their hug.

“It sounds like you’ve had a rough night. All I can say is that maybe your father is stressed? And maybe he’s taking it out on you? Anyway, that was close, Chat. Lets just go into my room and calm down”, Marinette pulled him through the trapdoor, and she got cookies while he sat on her chaise, hugging a pillow to calm down some more.

“I remember last time you had to detransform, your kwami asked for cheese, so I brought some up if you want to give them a break in the bathroom?” Marinette closed her door behind her, carrying a platter of cookies and a few wedges of brie. 

Chat looked up at her with clear awe on his face. He doesn’t believe someone could be as thoughtful or kind as Marinette. He came onto her balcony in the middle of the night, crying, and she comforted him, gave him cookies, and even brought cheese for his kwami without asking anything in return. 

“Thank you, Princess! I’m sure Plagg would like a break, and I need to apologize to him for waking him up to transform…” Chat thanked her, taking the cheese and a cookie into her bathroom. Then he checked his stick for the time, and frantically pushed the door open.

“I’m sorry Princess, but I have to leave! I’m late for something, and…. Thank you for your hospitality! I’ll be sure to let Plagg know you thought of him!” Chat called as he climbed out of her trapdoor. He felt bad for leaving his friend on such short notice, but he needed to meet with his Lady on top of the Eiffel Tower.

Shortly after Chat Noir left, Marinette checked her phone for the time and almost had a panic attack.

“ _ NINE-THIRTY?! I’M GONNA BE LATE!! _ ” Marinette screeched. Chat was going to get to their meeting spot before her! She hoped he took the long way...

“Late for what?” Marinette jumped when she heard her dad, who had poked his head through her door.

“Um, a video call with Alya. I was supposed to call her at 8:45, but I got distracted designing something and doing homework”, she gestured towards the mess of paper and notebooks on her desk.

“Ok, I was just checking in. Have fun with your friend”, Tom closed her trapdoor. Marinette waited a few seconds after she heard her dad walk away before bidding the kwamis goodbye (Again), transforming, and swinging around the city as fast as miraculously possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like it's harder to write Chat/Adrien's perspective... but I made another "long" chapter! I'm going to try and alternate between perspectives like, every two chapters? I have no idea why the spaces are different on this chapter, but I've already tried to fix it and I'm giving up unless someone in the comments has any ideas? Thank you for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! I have decided that my non-existent plan will not fit into just 10 chapters, so I have changed that status-thingy. And I'm updating early this time! I apologize for any grammar or punctuation mistakes, I speed-wrote this at 1am with minimal editing.... Enjoy!

Chat Noir landed in front of a flower shop, wishing that he could buy a rose for his Lady. But his money was in his other pockets, so he wouldn’t have access to it while he was transformed.... Or could he? He’d never tried, so he unzipped one of his pockets and dug around. Sure enough, he felt his cash, a gum wrapper, and a broken pencil that he had used earlier that day. He walked in, greeted the shocked shopkeeper, asked for a rose, and then heard the crashes. And the screams. He tried to look through the back door where the shopkeeper had gone, then checked his stick for any messages from Ladybug, jumping impatiently. Then the shopkeeper walked back out. Chat slapped the money on the register, grabbed the rose, thanked her, and bolted towards the action with his Lady’s rose between his teeth.

“Chat! Where were you?” Ladybug chided when Chat Noir  _ finally _ showed up. He presented her the rose with a flourish, replying, “Sorry M’lady, I was busy.”

“It’s pretty, Chat Noir, but we have a job to do.”

“Not as purrty as you, M’lady!”, Chat dodged a vine from the akuma, who seemed to be plant themed. Ladybug groaned at his pun.

“Ah, the kitty decides to join the fight! Might as well introduce myself again: I’m Floravenge, and I need your Miraculous to give to the dear HawkMoth so I may find those who disrespected me and my beautiful bouquets!” The akuma swung more vines from her skirt as she monologued. 

“Chat! The vines with flowers on them turn things into flower minions! Watch out for them!” Ladybug shouted, using her yo-yo as a shield from one of the minions she warned about.

“Got it!” Chat scooped some bystanders away before vaulting back to the fight, where there were considerably more minions, and the vines seemed to be emitting fumes that made his vision a little blurry. He shook his head and heard Ladybug call for her Lucky Charm, which ended up as a rake.

"What are you gonna do with that, M’lady?” Chat asked, hoping she had a plan.

"I don’t kn…..” He saw her eyes widen. “Actually, Chat, go stand over by that car, and when I say go, grab that traffic cone and jump onto the handle of the rake!” Ladybug instructed.

He got into position, fending off vines and minions with his stick, and waited for his cue.

“GO!”

He did as Ladybug had told him, and he let Ladybug grab the traffic cone from him as she was catapulted to the akuma. She shoved the cone on Floravenge’s head, grabbed her necklace, and tossed it to him.

“Cataclysm!” The necklace crumbled to dust, and the purple butterfly materialized. He watched as Ladybug purified the akuma, fixed the damage, and walked over to give him their usual celebratory fist-bump.

“Pound it!” They exclaimed. Then they heard the beeping from Ladybug’s earrings.

“Um, we were supposed to meet at the Eiffel tower when my patrol was done, so I’ll recharge my kwami and meet you there?” Ladybug asked, looking reluctant to go home.

“Sure, M’lady! Always a  _ paw _ -sure to spend more time with you!” Chat replied.

“I might change my mind if it means more puns, Chat” She teased, rolling her eyes. Chat grinned and set off toward the Eiffel Tower.

Ladybug landed in a secluded, empty alleyway just in time for her transformation to wear off. She caught her exhausted kwami, and gave her a cookie from her purse.

“Hey Tikki, is it okay if I meet Chat at the Tower before we go home? I don’t wanna be questioned on the fight just yet” Marinette asked, hoping Tikki was okay to transform her again. Tikki nodded. Marinette thanked her and waited until her friend had finished her macaron before transforming and swinging her way toward the Eiffel Tower.

“Hey kitty” Ladybug swung her legs over the ledge as she sat next to her partner.

“Hi M’lady” Chat replied.

They sat in comfortable silence for a few moments, before Chat spoke up.

“Guess what?”

“What?”

“I found that when I’m transformed, I have the stuff in my pockets that I had when I was in my civilian form. That’s how I bought you that rose”

“I still have it! I put it in my yo-yo, which is similar to your pockets; it still has the stuff I had in my purse when I transform” Ladybug opened her yo-yo and pulled out the rose. She inhaled the sweet aroma, then set it on the platform between them.

“Thank you, Chat”

“For what?”

“For always being by my side, being so supportive and sweet, and making stupid puns. I’ve picked up a mew from you, y’know?” She giggled at his gawking.

“Well, I wouldn’t be me without a select mew awesome puns. Or jokes. Knock-knock!”

She sighed. “Who’s there?”

“Wa.”

“Wa who?”

“Why are you excited?” 

Ladybug thought for a second, then snorted. “I have a joke for you too, kitty! Knock-knock” 

“Who’s there?”

“Connor”

“Connor who?”

“Connor puns get any worse?” She giggled when he looked stumped. Then his face lit up, and he laughed.

“That’s a good one, but I think my puns are  _ purr _ fect. Actually, I think they’re  _ paws _ -itivley  _ hiss- _ terical!” 

Ladybug groaned, then grinned as she teased, “Three in a row?? Seriously? You’ve got to be  _ kitten _ me? Or am I just that un- _ fur- _ tunate?”

Chat Noir feigned horror. “You wound me with your  _ claw _ -ful words! And you said earlier that you might not meet me if there were more puns… Yet you’re still here! Does My Lady like my puns after all?” He gasped.

“Absolutely not. But it was fun to humor you for a  _ mew _ ” Ladybug giggled as she denied her fondness for puns, then looked at the time on her yo-yo. She frowned.

“Chat, I’m sorry, but I have to go home. I’ll see  _ mew _ tomorrow! Good night!” She hooked her yo-yo on a chimney nearby, and swung home.

She landed on her balcony and detransformed, catching Tikki again and going into her room. The other kwamis greeted them from where they were already getting ready to sleep as Marinette gave Tikki another cookie and sat down at her desk. She looked at the giant stack of homework, and decided to go to bed instead of enduring Ms. Mendeleiev’s torture. So Marinette shut off the light, climbed into bed, and hoped for good dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that chapter was WAY longer than the others (or at least it feels like it). And it had an akuma attack. And some Ladynoir banter. This was super-duper fun to write, even if it made me tear my hairs out. I hope everyone got the jokes... Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fingers crossed A03 doesn't mess up my formatting, I don't feel like spending all night fixing itttt! Here's another chapter, sorry it took so long!

Marinette walked into Ms. Bustier’s classroom early for once, and plopped into her seat to tune into Alya and Nino’s conversation.  
“--you think Chat Noir has cat tendencies? Like, he has claws, heightened hearing, night vision and a tail, do you think he’s attracted to meat or something too? Or maybe he likes scratches?” Alya sounded like she had a new conspiracy theory about Paris’ superheroes.  
“I dunno Al, maybe?” Nino replied, waiting for her evidence.  
“Hmm. Hey Marinette, what do you think? Wait, you’re early?” Alya looked suspicious.  
“Yep. I went to bed earlier than usual. But I skipped doing Ms. Mendeleiev’s homework, so I’ll have to do double today.” Marinette groaned internally at the thought of having to do Astronomy and whatever torture her science teacher had in store for today.  
“Oh, that sucks. Maybe I could come over after school and we could do homework together?” Alya offered.  
“Could I come too? I didn’t finish mine either. I have no idea how to do Question 6” Nino jumped in.  
Adrien walked in and sat down next to his best friend. “What are you guys talking about?”  
“We’re thinking of doing our homework together at my house. Do you wanna come?” Marinette asked. Alya looked at her weird, and she remembered that she still hadn’t explained why she could, apparently, talk to Adrien. She’d have to do that later.  
“Uh, let me check my schedule! I might actually have a free day today….. Yep! I’ll ask my dad?” Adrien’s smile faltered.  
“Yay! We can walk to my house together. Plus, my parents will probably bring snacks… Adrien?” Marinette saw Adrien frown, and then smile.  
“Oh, sorry, my dad said I could go, but I have to be back home by 4:30!” Adrien pumped his fist.  
“Okay, so Alya, why do you think Chat Noir might have ‘cat tendencies’?” Nino did air quotes, obviously irritated that he and his girlfriend’s conversation had been interrupted.  
“Well--” The bell rang, cutting off the redhead’s answer, and Ms. Bustier started class.

“Hey!” Marinette waved Adrien and Nino over to where she and Alya were standing, waiting to walk over to Marinette’s for lunch break. The boys jogged over, and they started walking to the bakery.  
“Hey Adrien, do you think Chat Noir has cat tendencies? Like enjoying pets or something?” Alya started the conversation again.  
“Yeah! I mean, when Chloe got kidnapped by Prime Queen, we saw that he can purr, so maybe?” Adrien laughed nervously. Marinette looked at him weird. She didn’t remember any screens near enough to her and Chat to hear purring or her questioning him when the train stopped, slamming him into her. How would he know that?  
“Um, okay. Whaddya think, Mari?” Alya asked.  
“Huh? Oh, um, yeah, maybe. I mean, he has night vision and other cat stuff.” Marinette got jolted out of her thoughts of how Adrien could possibly know that Chat purrs.  
The group arrived at the bakery, and Marinette’s parents ushered them upstairs with sandwiches, pastries, and croissants. Alya took the desk chair, and the boys claimed the chaise as Marinette spread her homework on the floor. The only thing you could hear for the next few minutes was chewing, pencils on paper, and the occasional, “Do you know what this means?” Then, Alya and Nino seemed to read each other’s minds and tried to leave Marinette and Adrien alone.  
“Hey girl, my throat hurts. Imma go get some tea downstairs, Nino, wanna come?” Alya looked pointedly at her boyfriend, who nodded hastily and got up.   
Marinette looked up, alarmed, mouthing “no”, but Alya had already disappeared downstairs, with Nino on her heels. Adrien cleared his throat uncomfortably.  
“So, um, Adrien. During Prime Queen, I was watching downstairs with my parents when the train stopped. I don’t remember seeing Chat Noir purr… How do you know that he does?” Marinette asked carefully. She didn’t want him to think she was accusing him of lying, but it wasn’t really an easy question to make sound non-accusatory.  
Adrien’s eyes widened, and he scratched his neck. “Um, I--” CRASH! Adrien looked almost relieved that he didn’t have to answer Marinette’s question as people outside started screaming. Marinette shot to her feet to look out the window, and saw… Ghosts? The biggest one had two glowing eyes and a raspy voice, and as it turned bystanders into ghost minions, it rambled off a monologue similar to the ones they’d been hearing for almost a year now.  
“They had to interrupt lunch? I was enjoying hanging out!” Adrien broke the near-silence, and she was surprised to not hear a pun. She turned away from the window, making up an excuse to leave.  
“Um, I have to… go get something out of the back of the bakery! I forgot my favorite pencil back there when I was helping Papa”, Marinette closed the trapdoor, and sighed. She hated lying to his face like that, be she had to go save Paris! (Again, unfortunately.) She walked down the steps, made sure Alya and Nino didn’t see her, and gave her parents the same excuse she gave Adrien so she could exit out of the back door into an alley, perfect for transforming in. Tikki floated out of Marinette’s purse, giving her a look, and Marinette sighed and transformed. She swung out of the alley onto a nearby chimney, and surveyed the damage. Not that there was any. There wasn’t any screaming anymore, either. The people either watched quietly, or they were already ghost minions. It was weird not hearing anything, especially because it was still daylight out. Chat Noir landed beside her, ears erect and searching for anything except for the whispery sounds from the ghosts following the leader.  
“Kind of weird how there’s no sound. Usually there’s screaming and destruction”, Chat observed. He tapped his claws on his leg, the tapping bringing her focus back.  
“Yeah, that’s what I was just thinking. Let’s follow the leader, see what he’s doing instead of trashing the city.” Ladybug swung towards a chimney across the street, and started running and jumping after the trail of ghosts. Chat Noir followed not long after.

They landed on top of the Le Grand Paris, and just stared. Stared at the hundreds of ghosts and the akuma sitting at the steps, their whispery voices demanding that the mayor come out. It was like the American Civil War sit-in protests. People just sat asking for change. Change for what, Ladybug had no idea.  
“I wonder why they want the mayor”, Ladybug whispered. Chat looked at her surprise.  
“That’s what I was thinking! I guess today we’re reading each other’s minds. But maybe they’ll make the mayor fix whatever made them mad, and they have some dirt on him or something to make him do whatever they want”, Chat Noir replied.  
Ladybug considered the idea, then nodded. “That might be what they’re doing. Or maybe they have mind control or something. But we need to figure out what the akuma might make the mayor do. Let’s ask him!” Ladybug dropped to the ground before Chat could protest, but she figured that if the akuma hadn’t done any damage yet, he might be up for talking. Her partner landed a second later, asking if she was out of her mind.  
“No, but I wanna get this over with, without the mayor getting hypnotised or something.” Ladybug slowly walked closer to the akuma, and called to him.  
“Hey! Um, I didn’t catch your name earlier. And you don’t seem to be very… destructive. Do you want to talk or something? Like, what do you want changed so you’ll go back to normal?” Ladybug stepped back when the akuma came over, with all of his creepy minions watching him.  
“Hello Ladybug. Chat Noir. I am Protesto. I don’t want to talk. I want to change how people in my line of work get treated by consumers. So I’ll make people be decent. Just like I’ll make you battle your partner for me!” The ghost locked eyes with Ladybug, and suddenly she turned very pale with ice-blue eyes. She looked away, and started swinging her yo-yo in a shield, circling her partner.

Chat knew that it was a bad idea to go talk to the akuma, especially then as he dodged a yo-yo aimed at his head. He boosted himself to the roof, and the hypnotised Ladybug followed him. He blocked what could’ve been a blow to his side, and started running towards the empty stadium, where he knew no one could get hurt when he reluctantly had to battle his lady. He hoped that he could. There were a couple of times that they sparred, away from the cameras and people. She beat him every time. So he ran faster towards the stadium, but then… she stopped. Just stood there, still swinging her yo-yo in a shield. Her empty eyes boring into his. She slowly took a step forward, and something in her eyes flickered. He squinted, but then she put her foot back and her eyes were cold again.  
“So, if she’s far enough away from Protesto, he loses his hold on her. That means that if I can lure her far away, then drag her out of his grasp long enough that she can give me her lucky charm! She’ll Probably get hypnotised when she’s back in range, but I’ll have an extra tool” Chat said to himself. He watched as Ladybug swung/ran back to Protesto, then used his stick’s tracker to see if he could find her when he put his plan to action. He could. Now all that’s left is to find some bait; something Protesto couldn’t help but send Ladybug after. He thought about all of the powerful people that could change things about the akuma’s “line of work”, and two people stood out. His boss, and the mayor.  
“He’s already going after the mayor, so his boss is my best bet. If I can find out who it is”, He thought aloud. Chat considered the reason Protesto was akumatized, and he realized that he needed to look at the bosses of all the retail stores within a mile of Marinette’s house. Chat Noir groaned, dreading walking into every store to talk to the manager.  
“I wonder which me will attract the most attention… eh, I’m gonna stay as I am for now.” Chat grumbled to himself, wishing he hadn’t let his lady go talk to Protesto as he started towards the first store.  
30 MINUTES AND A BUNCH OF STORES LATER  
“Of course it’s the last store. Of course. I am a black cat, after all” Chat walked into the retail store, asked for the manager, and waited in the customer support section. Protesto was right; the workers were treated pretty awfully. He looked away as a lady got angry because she couldn’t return something from a different store, and spotted the manager walking toward him.  
“Hello, I believe one of your coworkers got akumatized. Could you help me defeat him, as my partner is currently unavailable? I believe that you could be just the person for my plan to defeat the akuma” Chat tried to sound official, but the look on the manager’s face didn’t really give him confidence.  
“Yeah, okay. Evil ghosts going through my store isn’t exactly good for business.”  
“Perfect! Now, would you follow me?” Chat walked out of the store, scooped up the manager, and ran across the rooftops towards Protesto.

“Oh PROTESTOOO! Maybe your boss can change your work predicament. Too bad, though, he’s a stooge and he’s not gonna help!” Chat Noir sang.  
“Hey, that’s ru--” The manager’s complaint was interrupted by Chat reminding him that he’s supposed to be the bait. The manager huffed and crossed his arms as Chat scooped him up again and started running from Ladybug, who the akuma had commanded after them. He ran towards the stadium again, knowing there was a perfect rooftop to hide the manager and drag his lady out of Protesto’s range.  
As Chat ran across the rooftops, he tracked how far Ladybug was from Le Grand Paris with his stick.  
Two miles…  
Five miles…  
At six-and-a-half miles away from Protesto, Ladybug stopped again. This time, though, she attacked from afar with her yo-yo. Chat went a little farther still, and stashed the manager behind a chimney, and ran back to complete the next part of his plan.  
Chat Noir ran back to his lady, who was still stopped on the edge of a roof. She opened her mouth, and the raspy voice of the akuma said, “Where is my manager?? Bring him to me now, or I will injure your partner!” Chat was sure he was going to have nightmares as Protesto’s voice counted to 10 and he attempted to get close enough to his lady to drag her. She dodged with grace, swung her yo-yo, and managed to disarm him by the time Protesto got to five.  
“You’re making this really hard, M’lady!” He dodged what could’ve been a yoyo to the face. “Ladybug, I’m trying to help! If you’re still in there, I need you to fight it as hard as you can. I have a plan.” Chat jumped behind her, and right as Protesto hit 10, he dragged her across the street. He grabbed his fallen stick, and carried the now-recovering Ladybug away from Protesto.

“Are you okay? Did he do anything to you?” Chat Noir set Ladybug on a roof carefully. He was confident that he had gotten her far away enough, and figured this was as good of a spot as any to stop.  
“Um, I think I’m good. Thanks, Chat. I could hear you, by the way. What’s your plan?” He watched as his lady stood up carefully, and got ready to catch her when she got dizzy. She pushed his arm away, saying she could stand by herself, but her leaning heavily on a chimney wasn’t very convincing.  
“M’lady, I have a theory that once you get back in range of Protesto, you’ll be hypnotised again. Can you give me your lucky charm? Maybe it’ll give me an advantage for when you get hypnotised again, and I’ll have to break the akuma?” Chat theorized. Ladybug nodded and called down her lucky charm, but this time, she added, “FOR CHAT!”  
She handed him the spotted rope. “I added the ‘for Chat’ part, because I remembered when you used my miraculous, you got something that you could figure out easier, so I figured that maybe it would give me a simpler one if I said it was for you”, Ladybug explained.   
Chat nodded. “Thanks for not making me come up with a complicated plan, M’lady. It was hard enough to come up with the plan I’m using now, I don’t think I could come up with anything similar to your plans even if I wasn’t mentally pooped.” The corners of her mouth lifted, and then her face went blank, her eyes glowing again. Ladybug swiped at him with her yo-yo, and he dodged, slinging the rope over his shoulder.  
“Protesto must’ve gone farther this way, so she could be in range of him again,” Chat said to himself, cursing his bad luck. He grabbed his stick and ran farther away from Ladybug and Protesto, and she followed again. He sighed and vaulted over the rooftops, hopefully out of the akuma’s range and…  
Ladybug stopped again, her eyes blank as Protesto’s voice came out of her once again. “Since you think you’re so smart, I’m going to count to five. If you don’t tell me where the manager is, I will injure your beloved Ladybug.” The akuma started counting down again, and Chat shouted.  
“WAIT! Wait, I know where he is. But I forgot the address, so I’ll need to lead you to him. Please don’t hurt her.” Chat glanced at the rope on his shoulder, and another plan started to form. He would need a towel, his belt, and a spray bottle.   
But then something happened that both he and his lady completely forgot about; she de-transformed. And fell off of the roof. So Chat did the only thing that he could think of, and that was to close his eyes, jump across the street, and catch a de-transformed Ladybug. He landed hard on the sidewalk, and the jolt brought the stranger in his arms back to consciousness. At least he thought so, because he heard a groan, and an EEP! He guessed that she had realized that she was de-transformed, in her partner’s arms (The same partner who she had refused for almost a year to reveal her identity to), and not mind-controlled anymore.  
“Um, Chat. You can set me down now.” Her voice sounded strained, like she was stressed. He refused anyway.  
“Nope. You’re tired and vulnerable and you need to get to a place where you can feed your kwami and transform, and I’m going to get you there. I need you to tell me which way and when to stop and stuff, because I can’t open my eyes.” Chat raised a mask-covered eyebrow, waiting for her to lead the way. He could hear her sigh, and she directed left. He slowly and painstakingly grabbed his stick out of it’s holder, extended it up to the roof next to them, and carefully set them down. He didn’t want to drop her, but it was hard to do anything with someone in his arms. It seemed she noticed, because she cleared her throat.  
“What if you carry me on your back? Then your arms would be free” Ladybug-out-of-costume suggested. Chat set her down and let her climb on his back, testing how he would walk and move his arms.  
“Okay, M’lady. Which way?”  
“Um, I think you could open your eyes. I’m behind you, so you probably can’t see me.” She seemed to be avoiding the question of, “where to go?”   
He contemplated the suggestion, and shook his head.   
“Nope. If I see even your shoes or something, it could identify you. I know how much you don’t want that to happen.” He said the last part under his breath, but he knew she’d heard him by the way her arms tensed. “You ready?”  
He felt her nod and say, “Left, three steps. Then there’s the edge of a roof. The next roof is like, 6 meters away, so you’ll have to use your stick.” He nodded and walked three steps, and, true to her word, toed the edge of the roof. He caught his stick in a gap in the eaves, and launched them to the other roof. He would have overshot by a little if civilian-Ladybug hadn’t yelped.  
“Sorry, I overestimated.”  
“It’s fine, M’lady. Where now?”  
“Um, turn right and walk 5 steps, and then there’s one of those chimney things. Its about a meter-and-a-half tall.”

And so they slowly, painstakingly, got to a safe enough place that was far away from Protesto. She climbed off of Chat’s back, shuddering at how many times they either overshot or under-shot the landings. She decided that starting after the akuma, instead of patrol, they’d train. They needed to be more in sync if they were to defeat Hawkmoth before college.  
She shook her head, telling herself that she could worry about the big picture later. She gave Tikki a cookie from her purse, and noticed Chat was being unusually quiet.  
“Chat? You’re being quiet. What’s wrong?”  
“I’m just… more worried about you, and the akuma, and Paris than I am about those jokes you hate right now.” He sounded so sad, she couldn’t help but walk over and put her hand on his shoulder.  
“Chat, I don’t hate your jokes. I just-” Marinette sighed. She didn’t know how to explain that she loves puns, its just that she doesn’t feel like she can enjoy them around him, when they would be distracted and walls would fall and- a very loud voice boomed over Paris, interrupting her thoughts.   
“CHAT NOIR MAY THINK HE’S CLEVER, BUT HIS TRICKS WON’T WORK FOR LONG! I WILL FIND THOSE WHO CAN GIVE ME WHAT I WANT, AND THEN NOTHING WILL STOP ME FROM GETTING YOUR MIRACULOUS!”  
Chat snorted. “He sounds like Hawkmoth, with all of the, ‘I will get your miraculouses!’” Marinette nodded in agreement, even though she knew he couldn’t see her. She sighed again, glancing at Tikki. Her kwami nodded, and a burst of pink light lit up the alleyway as she transformed. She grabbed her yo-yo off of her hip, and found the little compartment with the earbud. Chat turned around and copied her.  
“I’ll be tracking you and looking at the news, but I won’t go near Protesto and the fight, so you won’t have to worry about fighting me.” Ladybug glanced at Chat’s shoulder, where she remembered him putting her lucky charm. Chat followed her gaze.   
“Oh! The rope is gone. Wait, if you give me another lucky charm, I’d have to use it before you detransform again, and it takes time to even get over there. I guess no lucky charm this fight, then. Um, what’s the plan, M’lady?” Chat straightened up and saluted like a soldier, making Ladybug smile.  
“I think you should go find Protesto, and observe what he’s doing. Don't look into his eyes, 'cause that's what hypnotised me. I can check the news for info, but I think I’m going to recruit some friends” Ladybug glanced at her yo-yo, seeing that Alya and Nino were together, filming a parade of ghosts floating away from the Le Grand Paris. Chat nodded, and took off, leaving Ladybug to collect their friends. She sighed, closed her yo-yo, and swung away to her house, where the kwamis and Miraculouses were hiding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, that was long. I hope that the ending wasn't too abrupt, but I ran out of ideas to drag it out. If you like my story, please kudos or comment so I know to keep writing! Thanks for reading, have a good day/night! (Depends on when you're reading this ;))


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